1 Who We Are
CallerCheck is a UK-based phone number lookup service operated by CallerCheck UK ("we", "us", "our"). We provide a free, community-driven platform that helps people identify unknown callers and protect themselves from phone scams.
For the purposes of UK data protection law, we are the data controller responsible for your personal information when you use our website and services.
2 Information We Collect
Information You Provide
When you use CallerCheck, you may provide:
- Phone number reports: The phone number you're reporting, whether it's spam or safe, the type of call, and any comments you choose to add.
- Optional display name: If you choose to add a name to your report (completely optional).
- Contact form submissions: Your name, email address, and message if you contact us directly.
Information Collected Automatically
When you view a number's page, we count the visit and record how you arrived at it and your country. We don't save your IP address or the type of device you use with that record, though our systems use your IP address when you connect, to deliver the page and limit abuse.
When you send a report, vote on or flag a report, claim a number or contact us, we keep limited technical information, such as your IP address and the type of device you use, to prevent abuse and keep the service secure. If you accept analytics cookies, we also use analytics to understand in general how the site is used.
What We Don't Collect
- ✗ Your personal phone number
- ✗ Your exact location or GPS data
- ✗ Financial or payment information
- ✗ Social media account details
- ✗ Passwords or login credentials (we don't have accounts)
The CallerCheck Apps
The CallerCheck apps for iPhone and Android need no account and work in much the same way as the website:
- Looking up and reporting numbers. Reports you send from the app are handled in the same way as reports on the website. As on the website, we keep limited technical information only to prevent abuse.
- Caller ID warnings. The app downloads a list of reported numbers so your phone can label them when they ring. Incoming calls are checked on your phone, and nothing about your calls is sent to us.
- Notifications (only if you allow them). We use them only to tell you about reports you've sent or numbers you've chosen to watch. You can turn them off at any time in your phone's settings.
- CallerCheck PRO (only if you subscribe). Payments are handled by a third-party payment provider. We don't receive or store your bank, card or other financial information.
- Messages to support. If you contact us from the app, we use what you send us only to reply.
- Diagnostics and usage statistics. The app may send anonymous crash reports and, only if you agree, anonymous usage statistics, so we can fix problems and improve the app. These never include the numbers you check, what you write or your name, and you can switch usage statistics off at any time in the app.
- Your clipboard. The app only reads your clipboard when you tap Paste.
The apps contain no advertising and don't track you across other apps or websites. Guides and pages opened from the app are shown from this website, where our cookie choices apply.
3 If Your Number Is Listed
This section is for people whose phone number has a page on CallerCheck. A phone number that belongs to a person can be personal data, so we explain here what we do with it and what you can ask us to do.
How number pages are created
Number pages are generated dynamically from the information we hold about a number, so a page can exist for a number that nobody has reported, and what it shows changes as reports are added or removed.
A page can show the number, the area or network the number range is allocated to (information that is already publicly available from Ofcom), and reports from members of the public about calls they received from it. A report can include a safety rating, the type of call, a comment, and any name the caller gave. Some pages also show a short summary of the reports, written by AI from those reports alone.
Search engines and AI tools
Search engines and AI services, such as Google or Bing and their AI-generated overviews and answers, decide for themselves what to show and how to describe our website or any page on it. We have no control over this and are not responsible or liable for how they display, summarise or connect CallerCheck with any number, search or query.
What "approved" means
Reports sent through our website and apps are read by a member of our team before they are published. An approved report is one that meets our content guidelines: for example, it describes a call, isn't abusive, and doesn't contain personal details such as addresses. Approval does not mean we have checked that what the report says is true. As on review sites such as Tripadvisor or Trustpilot, reports are the views and experiences of the people who wrote them, and we don't know who owns a number unless the owner tells us. Anyone can flag a published report, and flagged reports are reviewed again.
Why we show it
We rely on legitimate interests: helping people recognise unknown callers and protect themselves from nuisance and scam calls. We show what people report about calls, not information about who owns the number, and we never sell it.
Your rights over your number's page
If the number is yours, you can ask us to correct or delete reports, or object to us showing the number at all. To do this, email [email protected] or contact us and choose "Number Removal Request", and give the number. If the number belongs to your business, you can instead claim it from its page and add a statement of your own.
If the number's page has reports, we will first check that the number is yours, so that nobody can have a number's page removed without its owner's agreement. Usually we send a short code by text message to the number and ask you to send it back to us. If the number can't receive texts, we may ask instead for a screenshot of a recent bill or your phone account showing the number, with other details covered. If the page has no reports, we may take it down without these checks.
The UK GDPR allows us to ask for information we need to confirm who is making a request. We use the number, and anything you send us to prove it is yours, only to deal with your request, and we delete any screenshot once we have checked it. Sending the code is a one-off message about your request, never marketing. We respond within one month of receiving your request, or of confirming the number is yours where we need to check.
If we agree to remove a number, we take its page down, delete its reports, any claims made on it, our records of visits to the page and any alerts people set up for the number, and keep only a record of the number with its page turned off, so that a new page isn't created for it. If you have also asked for a copy of your data, we finish this once we have answered that request. We may refuse where we have strong grounds to keep warning people, for example when many people have reported the number for scam calls, and we will tell you why.
4 How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
Provide our service
Display phone number information, reports, and spam scores to users searching our database.
Prevent abuse
Detect and prevent spam submissions, abuse of our platform, and malicious activity.
Improve our service
Understand how users interact with our site to improve functionality and user experience.
Respond to enquiries
Reply to your questions, feedback, or requests when you contact us.
Legal compliance
Comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests from authorities.
Legal Basis for Processing (UK GDPR)
We process your information based on: legitimate interests (providing and improving our service, preventing abuse), consent (for optional cookies), and legal obligation (complying with applicable laws).
5 Cookies & Tracking
We use cookies and similar technologies to provide and improve our service. Cookies are small text files stored on your device.
Types of Cookies We Use
| Type | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Required for the website to function (e.g., session management, CSRF protection) | Session |
| Preferences | Remember your settings and preferences | 1 year |
| Analytics | Understand how visitors use our site, with Google Analytics (only if you accept) | 2 years |
| Advertising | Show ads from our advertising partners, which keep the site free (only if you accept) | Up to 13 months |
Managing Cookies
Analytics and advertising cookies are only set if you accept them, and you can change your choice at any time in the cookie settings or your browser. If you accept advertising cookies, our advertising partners may set their own cookies to choose and measure ads. We don't share your personal information with them: what their cookies collect is covered by their own privacy policies, and we comply with each platform's terms of use. Our Cookie Policy lists every cookie we use.
6 Data Sharing
We take your privacy seriously and limit data sharing to what's necessary:
Public reports
Reports you submit are displayed publicly to help other users. No personal information is attached unless you voluntarily add a display name.
Service providers
We use trusted third parties for hosting, analytics, email and security. They process data on our behalf under strict agreements. We don't share your personal information with advertising partners.
Legal requirements
We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect our rights and safety.
We Never
- ✗ Sell your personal information to third parties
- ✗ Give advertisers or marketers your reports or contact details
- ✗ Provide individual user data to number owners
- ✗ Transfer data outside the UK/EEA without adequate protection
7 Data Retention
We retain information for as long as necessary to provide our service and comply with legal obligations:
| Data Type | Retention Period |
|---|---|
| Phone number reports | While the number's page is live (deleted if the number is removed at its owner's request) |
| Technical information used to prevent abuse | 12 months, then deleted or made unreadable. Records of visits to a number's page are deleted when the number is removed at its owner's request. |
| Page view records (the page, the date, how you arrived and your country, with no IP address or device details) | While we hold the number's record. IP addresses and device details on older page view records are removed after 12 months. |
| Contact form submissions | 2 years; technical information sent with them, 90 days |
| Record that a number's page was removed at its owner's request (the number and the date, not who asked) | For as long as the page stays removed, so a new one isn't created |
| Record of emails we send you (address, subject, delivery) | 24 months; the text of our replies to your messages, 30 days. Unsubscribing from alerts deletes the record of alert emails straight away. |
| Analytics data | Anonymised, and kept in line with our analytics provider's retention settings |
8 Your Rights
Under UK data protection law (UK GDPR), you have the following rights:
Right to Access
Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to Rectification
Request correction of inaccurate personal data.
Right to Erasure
Request deletion of your personal data in certain circumstances.
Right to Restriction
Request we limit how we use your data.
Right to Portability
Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
Right to Object
Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected] or use our contact form. We will respond within one month.
9 Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information:
HTTPS Encryption
All data transmitted over secure connections
Secure Hosting
Hosted with an established, security-certified cloud provider
Regular Updates
Security patches applied promptly
Access Controls
Limited staff access to systems
While we take reasonable precautions, no internet transmission is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.
10 Email Alerts
If you ask us to email you about a number, or about a report you sent, we store your email address and the numbers you follow. We use it only to send those alerts. We never sell it, share it for marketing or use it to identify you on the site.
- Confirm once. The first time you give us an address, nothing is sent until you click the link in our confirmation email. If you don't, your address is deleted within a week. After that, the same browser or phone can add numbers in one click.
- Encrypted. Your address is encrypted in our database. Our emails are sent through a trusted email provider.
- Limited. You can follow up to 10 numbers, and alerts for a number stop after 6 months. You'll get at most one email every few hours, however many numbers you follow.
- Easy to stop. Every email has links to stop alerts for one number or unsubscribe from everything, and you can manage your alerts at any time. Unsubscribing deletes your address straight away.
- Remembered on your device. Your browser remembers which numbers you've asked for alerts on, so their pages can show it.
Our lawful basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time by unsubscribing.
11 Children's Privacy
CallerCheck is not intended for anyone under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us immediately and we will take steps to delete it.
12 Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will post the updated policy on this page with a new "Last updated" date.
For significant changes, we may provide additional notice such as a banner on our website. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
13 Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal data, or wish to exercise your rights, please contact us:
We respond to data protection requests within one month. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.